


Knitting

by SmokySky



Series: Tommy Shelby's 12 Days Of Christmas [5]
Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Advent Calendar, Advent Calendar Drabble, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gen, Knitting, Presents, There Is No Point To This - It's Just Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:08:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21766606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmokySky/pseuds/SmokySky
Summary: 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar fic based on the prompt: Decorating A Christmas Tree/Hanging Christmas Decorations.Polly remembers the time Mabel made Tommy his favourite present.
Relationships: Tommy Shelby/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Tommy Shelby's 12 Days Of Christmas [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559590
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	Knitting

**Author's Note:**

> So, it's the 12th of December, and instead of giving you any information about this story I'm going to remind everyone that polling stations are open in the UK - so if you're registered to vote, please go to your polling station and **vote before 10 o'clock this evening**! If you can't get to your polling station, you can still apply to vote by proxy before 5 o'clock this evening, so please, please, do not waste your vote. Thank you, and I promise that this will be the last you hear of me asking people to vote.

“Tommy Shelby! Wrap up warm before you leave, it’s cold out there tonight!” Polly called out, smirking behind her tea cup when she heard her nephew curse at being caught sneaking out of the house.

Her brother’s son was everything his father wasn’t; charming, measured, and above all, smart...but he wasn’t smarter than Polly, not yet.

And he wasn’t sly enough to sneak past her, either. Either out the house or with any of the criminal behaviour he and his brothers got up to.

The boys might think she was oblivious, but Polly knew about what they got up to at night: petty theft, fencing, protection rackets, illegal betting: she knew about  _ all  _ of it, even if they thought they were being clever by doing it when they were meant to be in school, or after they thought she was asleep. But as she was told them when she was younger,  _ Aunt Pol knew everything _ .

Which was why she held up Tommy’s mustard yellow scarf for him to see where he was standing by the front door - even though she knew he’d protest before he walked into the kitchen to do so.

And as if on cue, Tommy shook his head: “Can’t wear that.”

Polly raised an eyebrow at his mumbled at his protest: “And why not? It’s the warmest scarf you’ve got.”

“‘S’too bright. Shows...stains.” Tommy explained himself, meeting her eyes boldly when most boys would be ducking their heads in shame: “I don’t want to ruin it.”

That, Polly understood.

Despite it’s...interesting colour, Tommy adored this scarf - would rather freeze than risk it getting stained beyond cleaning. But that wasn’t surprising; afterall, Polly remembered how Tommy had come about owning his favourite scarf…

* * *

Polly watched as little Mabel Oakes sat at her kitchen table, frowning determinedly down at the tangle of mustard yellow wool and knitting needles in her hands.

The little girl was found in Watery Lane almost as much as she was found in her own home. Polly hadn't expected that when she'd moved in to take care of her niece and nephews, but she could bring herself to send the little girl home; as much as she worried about feeding an extra mouth, Mabel was so good with Tommy, and Heaven knew he needed a friend at the moment. Besides, Mr Oakes was kind enough to provide Ada with all of Mabel’s hand-me-downs, despite Mabel having her own younger cousins, and even if that stung Polly's pride a little...it was helpful.

The fact Mabel was a lovely girl also went a long way to endear her to Polly. There certainly weren't enough of them around Birmingham... 

"And what are you up to, little Miss Oakes?"

Mabel looked up in shock, before ducking her head and blushing: " _ 'Mtrynaknitascarf _ ..."

"I'm sorry, I don't speak mumble." Polly chided gently, smiling as she took a seat next to Mabel and started to help her untangle the mess around her hands.

"I'm trying to knit a scarf. For Tommy." she clarified: "Because he got sick because he was cold when we went sledding and I don't want him to get sick again because it's always cold in winter, especially when it snows, and I like playing with Tommy in the snow and I don't want him to have to stay inside so I wanted to make him a scarf - "

Polly decided to cut her off before she went blue in the face: "That's very sweet of you, Mabel, but given this mess, I have to ask...do you know how to knit?"

"A little bit?" Mabel blushed again: "My mum helped me...before."

  
  
  


Before she died.

Well, Polly wasn't really the knitting type...she knew how, of course, but it had always been more of her mother-in-law's activity than hers, but in the situation...she couldn't exactly not help, could she? It was for Tommy.

From his future wife.

Oh, the pair of them might pull faces if the idea if it was mentioned to them, but Polly knew. Polly always knew. Those two would end up together, even if they didn't know it yet. And if Mabel’s mother wasn’t around to help her knit a scarf for Tommy, then Polly damned well would.

  
  
  


"Let's see what we can do then, shall we? You've very nearly got it..."

  
  
  


Bright little thing that she was, Mabel was back on track with her scarf in no time, and soon needed no instruction from Polly.

Polly kept an eye on her, making sure she didn't get off track again, but mostly she enjoyed the quiet of the kitchen. Tommy was asleep in his bed, Finn was asleep in his cot, Arthur and John were doing God only knew what, and Ada was out with her friends, so this was a moment of peace that had become so rare since she'd stepped into her useless brother's shoes.

It was nice.

But of course, it also had to come to an end.

Two and a half hours later, Mabel was finished with her scarf, and Polly could hear the sound of Tommy shuffling down the stairs. He was still a little shaky, bless him, but of course that didn't mean he was going to stay in bed like he should, the stubborn little shit. Not unless Polly made him.

  
  
  


"Tommy, you better not be out of bed!" she called out.

There was a pause, and then a hesitant: "...I just wanted to make myself a cup of tea."

"I bring some up to you." Polly told him, before turning to smile at Mabel: "Why don't you make sure he gets back in bed? You can give him his new scarf."

  
  
  


Mabel smiled and darted away to do as she was told. Another reason Polly liked that girl - unlike the hellion children in this house  _ (and Polly said that with love, but John had put the window through twice in as many months) _ , she knew how to listen. And she would manage to get Tommy back into bed without physically manhandling him - in itself no small feat.

Polly gave them time to get settled before she took two cups of fresh tea up to them.

She found Tommy back in bed, proudly wearing his new scarf and smiling, pleased as punch with his gift - as he should be. Polly hadn't known a girl Mabel’s age could sit still for that long, but she had, and just for Tommy. The stitches were a little wobbly in places, but the colour looked surprisingly good on him - Polly was certain Mabel had chosen it that it was cheaper than one of the more sedate colours, but still, the girl had done well.

"Polly, did you see? Mabel made me a scarf!" Tommy exclaimed, eyes shining as he held one end up for Polly's inspection: "It's so soft and warm!"

“Polly helped...” Mabel protested, as if her efforts had meant nothing. Possibly her only shortcoming, her modesty.

But Tommy never paid too much attention to her protests anyway, throwing his arms around her in one of his rare displays of affection: “Thank you, Mabel. And thanks, Polly.”

For once, Polly let it slide that Tommy was treating his aunt as an afterthought - but only because he was busy admiring his new scarf between sending adoring looks at Mabel. And yet neither of them saw that one day they were going to end up together...

* * *

“Mabel would want you to be warm while you’re out and about at night.” Polly told Tommy - but her nephew wasn’t convinced:

“Mabel doesn’t know I’m out and about at night.”

Polly nearly laughed aloud: “Of course she knows. You think John’s maths is good enough to be keeping books?” Polly raised an eyebrow.

Realisation dawned on Tommy’s face, and Polly couldn’t help but chuckle.

That girl had been unofficially helping out with the Shelby family business since she caught sight of John’s ‘atrocious’ book-keeping  _ (her words...not that Polly in any way disagreed with her assessment) _ , and almost wept at how wrong his calculations had been. With Polly’s blessing, she’d fixed all the mistakes then and there at the kitchen table, and she’d been doing the same every Saturday night when John was sneaking beers around the back of the Garrison with Tommy and Arthur - and, up until now, none of them had been any the wiser.

Idiots.

But Polly could admire Tommy’s willingness to be cold and risk getting sick, despite how prone to illness he was, just to keep the scarf Mabel made him clean. It made him even more of an idiot, but he was an admirable idiot.

“If you want to keep this scarf clean, take the navy one your father left behind. It’s by the door.” Polly shrugged, neatly folding the yellow wool and putting it back on the kitchen table: “It’ll do until she makes you another one.”

At that - not the admission of sneaking out for wrongdoing - Tommy ducked his head and shuffled his feet: “She’s busy with school and her job and helping her dad out with the house...she said she wouldn’t even have time for shopping with Ada this year...”

“We’ll see. Just wrap up warm - if not you’ll get sick again, and Mabel’ll have no choice but to knit you a dozen scarves.”

Tommy nodded and did as he was told...all while Polly smiled behind her tea cup. If anyone had been around to see her, and had dared to ask while she was smiling, she would’ve told them it was because she knew Mabel had already knitted Tommy a new scarf in a deep burgundy red that wouldn’t show blood. But that wasn’t the whole truth. In truth, she was smiling because - although it might not have happened yet - Mabel and Tommy were still going to end up together. All they needed to do was admit to each other that they liked each other; apparently, despite how obvious it was to everyone else, neither of them had noticed yet...but they would. She was certain they would.

Because Aunt Polly knew everything.

And she was never wrong.


End file.
